{"id":4385,"date":"2008-05-01T00:14:15","date_gmt":"2008-05-01T07:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2008\/05\/01\/why-the-media-depicts-the-trans-revolution-in-lipstick-and-heels\/"},"modified":"2008-05-01T00:14:15","modified_gmt":"2008-05-01T07:34:03","slug":"why-the-media-depicts-the-trans-revolution-in-lipstick-and-heels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=4385","title":{"rendered":"Why the Media Depicts the Trans Revolution in Lipstick and Heels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Via Ldragoon<\/a>, an essay by Julia Serano, “Skirt Chasers: Why the Media Depicts the Trans Revolution in Lipstick and Heels.”<\/a> The essay is long and all of it is excellent, which makes picking a few sample paragraphs while doing justice to the piece impossible. But I’m a blogger, and that’s what I do, so:<\/p>\n

Media depictions of trans women, whether they take the form of fictional characters or actual people, usually fall under one of two main archetypes: the \u201cdeceptive\u201d transsexual or the \u201cpathetic\u201d transsexual. While characters of both models have an interest in achieving an ultrafeminine appearance, they differ in their abilities to pull it off. Because the \u201cdeceivers\u201d successfully pass as women, they generally act as unexpected plot twists, or play the role of sexual predators who fool innocent straight guys into falling for \u201cmen.\u201d [..]<\/p>\n

Even though \u201cdeceivers\u201d successfully pass as women, and are often played by female actors (with the notable exception of Jaye Davidson as Dil), these characters are never intended to challenge our assumptions about gender itself. On the contrary, they are positioned as \u201cfake\u201d women, and their secret trans status is revealed in a dramatic \u201cmoment of truth\u201d. At the moment of exposure, the \u201cdeceiver\u2019s\u201d appearance (her femaleness) is reduced to mere illusion, and her secret (her maleness) becomes the real identity. […]<\/p>\n

In virtually all depictions of trans women, whether real or fictional, \u201cdeceptive\u201d or \u201cpathetic\u201d, the underlying assumption is that the trans woman wants to achieve a stereotypically feminine appearance and gender role. The possibility that trans women are even capable of making a distinction between identifying as female and wanting to cultivate a hyperfeminine image is never raised. In fact, the media often dwells on the specifics of the feminization process, showing trans women in the act of \u201cputting on\u201d their feminine exteriors. It\u2019s telling that TV, film, and news producers tend not to be satisfied with merely showing trans women wearing feminine clothes and makeup. Rather, it is their intent to capture trans women in the act of putting on lipstick, dresses, and high heels, thereby making it clear to the audience that the trans woman\u2019s femaleness is an artificial mask or costume. […]<\/p>\n

What always goes unseen are the great lengths to which producers will go to depict lurid and superficial scenes in which trans women get all dolled up in pretty clothes and cosmetics. Shawna Virago, a San Francisco trans activist, musician, and codirector of the TrannyFest film festival, has experienced several such incidents with local news producers. For instance, when Virago was organizing a forum to facilitate communication between police and the trans community, a newspaper reporter approached her and other transgender activists for an article. However, the paper was interested not in their politics but in their transitions: \u201cThey wanted each of us to include \u2018before\u2019 and \u2018after\u2019 pictures. This pissed me off, and I tried to explain to the writer that the before-and-after stuff had nothing to do with police abuse and other issues, like trans women and HIV, but he didn\u2019t get it. So I was cut from the piece.\u201d […]<\/p>\n

When audiences watch scenes of trans women putting on skirts and makeup, they are not necessarily seeing a reflection of the values of those trans women; they are witnessing the TV, film, and news producers\u2019 obsession with all objects commonly associated with female sexuality. In other words, the media\u2019s and audience\u2019s fascination with the feminization of trans women is a by-product of their sexualization of all women.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The entire essay includes a discussion of the invisibility of trans men in media depictions of transsexuals, and a critique of the essentialism and sexism of Janice Raymond style anti-trans views within feminism. It’s worth reading the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The essay was later incorporated into Serano’s book Whipping Girl<\/a><\/em>, which I haven’t read but now really want to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Via Ldragoon, an essay by Julia Serano, “Skirt Chasers: Why the Media Depicts the Trans Revolution in Lipstick and Heels.” The essay is long and all of it is excellent, which makes picking a few sample paragraphs while doing justice … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transsexual-and-transgender-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}